> From: "Bob Bruninga " <bruninga at usna.edu>
> * too bad ICOM still thinks only of "tracking" and refuses to even consider receipt and display of
> info to the user.
That is particularly interesting in that Icom is ahead of the pack on
Marine VHF. They have an add-on for two of their high-end Marine
VHF/DSC radios that adds an AIS receiver and a display interface. It
is currently available in the UK and France (not yet available in the
US, but apparently under consideration). Perhaps the marine groups and
the amateur radio group don't speak to one another.
Although not mentioned as a feature it would be a short step to click
on an AIS target and have the MMSI of the target loaded into the DSC
of the radio and be able to call another ship directly with one click
and a button push. That strikes me as analogous to some of the
functionality we have talked about for APRS.
dave KO4MI